Only Rats
by FeudalEraArcher
Summary: From Artemis Fowl and the Eternity Code: "Only rats and two species of monkey could see through a fairy shield." What if Rat could as well?


**Disclaimer: I do not own No. 6 or Artemis Fowl.**

 **A/N: I was reading Artemis Fowl and the Eternity Code for the hundredth time when I came across the line quoted in the summary. This idea's been bugging me ever since, so I had to write it.**

Anya was a new recruit in the LEPrecon. Since this was her first mission, she had a supervisor to ensure she did her job correctly. It was none other than Holly Short, the first female captain in the LEPrecon and the fairy Anya admired most. Needless to say, Anya was determined not to let her down. The shuttle ride to the surface had gone well, she felt; if perhaps rather slower than if Holly had been the pilot instead of herself. Of course, she had nowhere near as much experience as the other elf, so she figured that it was not a big issue.

Now, the pair was flying through a small town filled with the survivors of a dystopian city called No. 6, which, ironically, was also the name of the main street in the town. After the incident in No. 6, the survivors had headed to the other side of the world. Most were not amused by the street's name.

Anyway, Anya and Holly were supposed to locate a goblin that had somehow managed to sneak up to the surface without anyone noticing. Apparently it was in this general area, though there were a few other towns nearby that it could have headed to. The fact that there were a bunch of humans walking around did not make it any easier to find it, as well as adding to the anxiety Anya felt. She knew they wouldn't be able to see her, since she was shielded, but still...

As they were passing by a library, Anya heard squeaking and glanced around nervously. She relaxed slightly when she saw a small group of rats were the source of the noise; she knew rats could see through her shield. She became confused when the rats began squeaking louder, running around a boy who was sitting under a tree, reading a book.

"What?" Nezumi muttered, looking up from the pages of the book to see what was causing the rats to act so agitated. The rats, noticing they had gained his attention, ran over to where Holly and Anya had paused, curious about the rats' strange behavior. Nezumi's gaze followed the rats, and Anya fully expected him not to be able to see her. After all, she was invisible to the human eye. However, rather than look around in confusion before returning to the book as Anya figured he would, Nezumi appeared to stare right at her. "Huh? Who are you?"

Anya slowly glanced over her shoulder. Someone must be walking over, she told herself. There was no way he could be referring to her and Holly. But no one stood behind her. In fact, the entire area around the two elves was strangely deserted. Gulping, Anya turned back to face the boy. Nezumi was still staring right at them, appearing slightly annoyed that they weren't answering his question. Anya then turned to Holly, looking for instruction. She'd never been told what to do in a situation where a human saw her while shielded - it was never supposed to happen. Holly looked just as shocked as she was.

"What should we do?" Anya asked quietly.

"I... don't know." Holly whispered back.

"Just keep going like nothing ever happened?" Anya suggested hopefully.

"Well, no... if this guy saw us, we can't let him go around telling people what he saw..."

"Why can he see us anyway?"

"I have no idea." Holly then began speaking to Foaly, who was usually paying attention to the progress of rookies' missions (from the safety of his security booth, of course). "You seeing this, Foaly?"

"Yes," replied the centaur. "I'm not sure what I'm seeing though."

"Well, you're the genius. Figure it out. Preferably sooner than later."

"Hey! I'm working on it!"

While they conversed (argued) Anya returned her attention to Nezumi. "Well? Who are you?"

"Um... Who are you?" she replied.

"I asked you first." he retorted.

Anya nearly laughed, and probably would have if it had been almost any other situation. As it was, she merely gulped again and gave an urgent glance towards Holly, hoping Foaly had some answers. Holly shook her head in response to her unspoken plea.

Meanwhile, another boy exited the library and approached the group. At first Anya was worried that there was now yet another witness they would have to deal with, but to her relief he didn't seem to notice the elves. "Hey, Nezumi, I found another book that I think the rats will like!"

"Great," Nezumi replied absently, more focused on trying to figure out why there were two flying figures in the middle of the street than Shion as he sat down nearby.

"What's with the rats?" Shion inquired, watching in confusion as they ran around below where Anya and Holly were hovering, squeaking loudly.

Nezumi turned to Shion, surprised. "You mean you don't see them?"

Shion blinked. "Of course I see them. I just asked what they were doing!"

"Not the rats. The, um, flying... things? No offense, I have no idea what you are." Nezumi explained.

"What flying things? The street's empty, besides the rats." Shion said.

"So you really don't see them?" Nezumi asked his friend, looking a bit worried. If Shion couldn't see them, why could he?

Anya sighed, feeling bad for the confused human. Seeing as Holly and Foaly were arguing again, it was up to her to figure out what to do next. Since the human would probably be mind wiped by the next day anyway, she figured it couldn't hurt to join the conversation. Sighing yet again, she spoke up, "You're not going crazy. We really are here. You just shouldn't be able to see us."

"Who said that?!" Shion gasped, to him it seemed like the voice had come out of thin air.

"Ah, sorry!" Anya told him apologetically.

"You said I shouldn't be able to see you. Why?" Nezumi asked.

"Um, well, I can't really tell you that..." Anya explained quickly, as Foaly had begun lecturing her to not, under any circumstances, tell them anything else.

Nezumi frowned. "Why not?"

"Because _someone_ keeps yelling at me not to," Anya explained, irritated by Foaly. "I get it, I get it! I won't! Get back to figuring out what's going on!" she muttered to the centaur. Apparently, Nezumi and Shion had been able to hear her, because they started laughing. "H-Hey! It's not that funny!" she stammered.

Foaly finally spoke up, "Okay, I've been doing some research, and... nothing. The only way anyone's ever successfully managed to see a shielded fairy is by using anti-shield filters. This guy's not wearing sunglasses, or regular glasses, so it can't be that."

"What about contacts?" Holly suggested, before speaking to Nezumi. "Hey, are you wearing contacts?"

"No." Nezumi replied after a second of confusion at the seemingly random question.

"So much for that."

Finally, the fairies decided to have the humans promise to never tell anyone about what happened. Since it was unlikely anyone would believe them anyway, Nezumi and Shion agreed immediately. Holly and Anya then left the town to continue their original mission. As they were entering the next town, Anya mustered up the courage to ask the question that had been burning in her mind ever since the incident, "Does this mean I failed?"

"No," Holly replied, before stopping in her tracks. "But that does." Anya turned to look in the direction Holly was facing and sighed. The goblin they'd been searching for was running around, setting fire to shops, chasing people, and overall just causing mass panic.


End file.
